SANTA CRUZ >> People were steadily pouring into the lobby of the Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center on Mission Street Saturday morning to see what local scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey have been up to.

The beautiful weather and location across the street from the Westside Farmers Market provided a great atmosphere for their first open house in 13 years.

“Time kinda slips away from you,” said Rex Sanders, a physical scientist and director of communications for USGS. “We are the nation’s earth sciences agency. We have offices all over the country, several in California. Most people know us for topographic maps. In California we are kinda famous for talking about earthquakes.”

Founded in 1879, the USGS is a fact-finding research organization that is part of the U.S. Department of the Interior and has offices in every state. Its primary disciplines are biology, geography, geology and hydrology.

A lot of the maps that most people look at on their smartphones are based on the maps created by USGS.

The Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center in Santa Cruz focuses on issues such as coastal erosion, tsunami hazards and offshore research. Most of its funding comes directly from Congressional appropriations to study hazards such as the Big Sur landslide that closed down a portion of Highway 1 earlier this year.

Physical science technician Kira Mizell and her team study rocks at the bottom of the ocean. One of their most exciting and visually mesmerizing projects is researching what they call “black smokers,” or chimneys, which look like mini underwater volcanoes. The magma, or molten rock, that exists beneath the earth’s surface fills the rocks with hot fluids, causing it to emit this heavy black smoke.

The USGS scientists use remotely operated vehicles, equipped with cameras, robotic arms, lights and temperature sensors to study this and other rocks on the seafloor, with an eye to their mining potential. “To change our carbon footprint, we are going to have to mine” the seafloor, said Mizell.

There were two personal watercraft positioned outside the center, which attracted the kids. The personal watercraft are used to survey nearshore environments, providing critical information on coastal processes and to create coastal geologic maps.

One of the center’s major project is studying rising sea levels along the coast. “It’s more complicated than filling a bathtub,” Sanders said. Patrick Barnard, who creates maps on California’s coastal flood projections, said that the big waves caused by storms can gradually lead to substantially high sea levels that may eventually threaten entire communities.

Such maps exist for the San Francisco area but not yet for Santa Cruz although the maps are due to come out next year. Part of Barnard’s job is to not only create the interactive maps, but translate them into dollars and numbers so that city planners and policy makers can make more informed decision about potentially vulnerable areas.

While much of USGS’s work inadvertently addresses environmental protections concerns, they are not in the protection business, but rather provide the facts. “We help managers make better decisions,” Sanders said.

Once you start talking with these scientists it is evident how passionate they are about their work and how excited they are to share their knowledge with the community. “We love talking about this stuff,” Sanders said. “It’s a good chance to show our own friends and neighbors and family what we do.”